Interesting Facts About Fire

Interesting Facts About Fire

1. Ray Bradbury originally titled his book Fahrenheit 451 as “The Fireman”, but he and the editors found the name boring, so they called a local fire station and asked at what temperature book paper burnt at. The firemen put Bradbury on hold, burnt a book, and reported that the temp it burnt at was “Fahrenheit 451”

2. A natural gas vent in Iraq known as The Eternal Fire has been burning continuously for over 4,000 years, and it has been mentioned by Herodotus, Plutarch, and in the Old Testament’s Book of Daniel

3. No one knows who invented the fire hydrant, because its patent was destroyed in a fire


4. Walt Disney World is the largest consumer of fireworks in the United States. The park also launches the fireworks with compressed air instead of gunpowder to reduce fumes and gain better height and timing

5. In 2004, over 300 people died in a supermarket fire in Asunción, Paraguay because the owners shut the doors so that people wouldn’t leave without paying.

6. Because of the number of low-hanging power lines in San Francisco, the city’s fire department still uses handmade wooden ladders, made by on-staff master ladder makers.

7. A fire in Mecca, Saudi Arabia in 2002 killed 15 school girls. The girls were not allowed to leave the burning building by the state’s religious police because they were not wearing correct Islamic dress.

8. The suits worn by the Guild members in the movie Dune were old body bags found in a disused fire station. The bags had actually been used several times, something that was kept from the cast members until shooting was complete.

9. There’s a bush called dictamnus albus which emits a flammable, oily substance which can be lit on fire, without burning the bush itself.

10. In 1985, Philadelphia police used a helicopter to drop two bombs on a house during an armed standoff. The bombs ignited a fire that killed 11 and destroyed 60 homes.

11. When John Walker used a stick to stir a pot containing antimony sulfide, potassium chlorate & sulfur, some of the mixture stuck to the end of the stick. When he tried to scrape the lump, it easily caught fire (due to friction) & this led to the birth of friction matches.

12. St. Lawrence was martyred by being roasted to death on a gridiron. Supposedly, after roasting over a hot fire for a while he said, “I am done on this side; you may turn me over now”. The Church made him the patron saint of chefs and comedians.

13. A single fire hydrant in San Francisco survived a massive earthquake in 1906 and aided fire fighters in saving the Mission district. In memory of the event, the hydrant was painted gold.

14. It is estimated that over 95% of structural fires in Detroit are due to arson, which is fifty times the national average.

15. Cotton will catch on fire if super glue is applied to it.

16. Ashtrays are required on every commercial airplane because 123 people died on a flight in 1973 when a lit cigarette caught fire in a lavatory waste bin.

17. After 9/11, actor Steve Buscemi rejoined the New York Fire Department to help firefighters sift through the rubble of the World Trade Center

18. In WWII, Japan actually sent 9000 “fire balloons” towards North America. 1000 of them actually hit land and killed 6 people.

19. Fire houses have spiral staircases because the horses that used to pull the fire wagons learned to walk up straight ones.

20. While Eddie Van Halen was recording the guitar solo for Michael Jackson’s “Beat It,” the studio speakers literally caught on fire.